Parking

Recommendations:

Add buffer strips to existing parking lots and design into all new parking lots

Build minimum of 10’-0” wide and running the length of the parking bay

Locate at a minimum of every-other parking bay, or as recommended by parking engineers for speciﬁc projects

Plant with zone hardy trees, shrubs, perennials, and/or seed blends

Grade parking lots to drain toward buffer strips IF subsurface soils allow them to act as a ﬁltration and drainage mechanism

Design and plan areas within the buffer strips appropriately to serve as snow storage basins

Coordinate speciﬁc design with a landscape architect or environmental engineer

Create a new parking lot for the Kress Events Center project

Create additional parking at the main entrance

Create additional parking at the edge of the student housing village

Relocate existing Housing Lot to improve circulation patterns and create a site for housing expansion

Expand parking near Lab Sciences lot if growth occurs in that area of campus

Expand parking near Wood Hall lot only if academic core or non-traditional housing develop in that portion of campus

Reconﬁgure Weidner Center Lot for more efficient allocation of parking

Remove separate Weidner Center Valet Lot and use a section of the newly conﬁgured lot for valet parking

Reconﬁgure and expand Studio Arts parking lot

Preserve visitor parking adjacent to MAC Hall/University Union

Implementation:

Realign and expand parking when existing lots need resurfacing/repair

Include parking lot expansion in budget for speciﬁc building projects

Include parking lot expansion at main entrance as part of entry design project

Add buffer strips to all existing parking lots when the schedule for resurfacing allows modiﬁcations

Design buffer strips into proposed and future parking lot expansion

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

This example demonstrates that pedestrian walkways can accommodate foot traffic at designated locations that transect the buffer strips. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Erosion Control Association, www.mnerosion.org/meca_lid_mnpls.htm

Buffer Strip Diagram

Buffer strips can be incorporated into all proposed parking lots as well as existing parking lots when resurfaced. These landscape features provide environmental benefits and create more humane looking parking lots.